After reviewing how much I was spending on ammo (about $300 /month) I decided to get me a 22 bolt action rifle and limit my range trips for the revolvers (Governor and 686-6) to once a month instead of once or twice a week. I figure the rifle will pay for itself in just a few months. I got a CZ 455 Lux with a 5 round magazine.

That reminds me of my wife buying clothes on sale and telling me how much she "saved." I usually ask her if she put the savings in our bank account BTW: the CZ has a great reputation for accuracy. I'm sure you'll love it.

Should've bought reloading equipment and supplies along with the rifle. Then you would've saved some real money

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Scoundrel & Ne'er-Do-Well

I am still working on clearing out a spot in my house to set up reloading equipment, but with time at a premium while I am still working I don't plan on reloading until after I retire. Then I start going to the range with the wife on a daily basis between breakfast and lunch.

I am wondering why the OP has not had a 22 rifle all along. The first gun so many kids get. The one rifle I could live with the rest of my life. I think the OP will enjoy it.

Now you just need a 22 revolver to go with it and you'll be all set!

That's funny right there!

I avoided them for many years, but when SD got to be such a big issue I got a few semi auto pistols. Lord have mercy you can burn through ammo with those. I reload my own but realized that I really going through the supplies. It's wise to put some limiters in there. And I'm NOT even considering full auto.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

CZ are great rifles for the money...... I've got a couple ..... older 452s in .22lr that will shoot one hole groups at 50yds.


Good luck and enjoy.

CZ was having a 15% off sale... may be over now but they do it twice a year.

There is a CZ sub-forum over on..... Rimfire Central Forum..... if you want info or advice on your new rifle.

Indeed. And some bullet casting equipment. Cheap lead is hard to come by, but it can be found. My current cost per cast bullet is between .0075 and .0125 per bullet, around a penny each. Depends on which one I'm casting.

Reloading is a natural extension of shooting in the quest for quality and accuracy.

I've had many .22s over the years and currently only own one semi-auto pistol and one revolver and a .22 conversion unit for my AR-15. I guess I just don't like shooting them that much and enjoy something with a little more bark and bite. For a while 9m/m was not much more expensive than .22s and I'm not too crazy about that cartridge either, but when I pay 35 bucks for a box of .44 Special it makes me think I need to get a 9m/m.

I will say in all honesty, I've never saved a dime reloading, and I've been doing it since I started with my dad in the early 60's. I do however get to shoot a lot more for my money, and when the stores run out of 9mm, 45 and other calibers, I still have ammo.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Need to copy this to the reloading forum. You'll hear the guffaws across the globe!!!

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Reg. Magnum wants/Rossi wallet

I recently bought an older Mod. 63 Kit Gun at a local gun show. What a hoot! The .22 has been one of my favorites since I was a kid, when my dad taught me how to handle firearms. We had a lot of fun shooting together. The little Ruger Mark I that he taught us to shoot back in the 60s is still in the family.

There you go ! Now you not only SAVE money; you'll probably start to make a little extra.

Usually when I chance upon an item that promises to "save money"; I tell the clerk "I will start stacking the item up in the floor, and when I have SAVED enough to pay for em, let me know".

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wanna do right-- not right now

If I am understanding this correctly, you would save twice as much money if you would have bought two .22 rifles.

terry

Yeah, from some folks, I guess. I keep seeing the "you don't really save any money reloading" comments, and I have to disagree.

Yes, I've spent three or four hundred bucks on equipment, and yes, I'm sure I do shoot more rounds than I would if I were buying all factory ammo. But even that does not eliminate all the savings. As others have said, 44 cal ammo is $25-$30 a box for the cheapest plinking ammo you can find. 357 is $20-$25 a box.

Even buying commercial bullets, I can load 44s or 357s for $7-$10 a box. So at $13-$23 per box savings, even if I'm shooting TWICE as much ammo each outing, I've still paid for my equipment in a year or two (at most) and from then on the savings add up pretty fast.

For example if I shoot up just 300 rounds - 6 boxes - in a couple of hours, at $18 per box savings (average) I've saved $108 over shooting factory ammo. Even if I shoot twice as many rounds of reloads as what I would have shot of factory ammo, shooting up half of the savings, then that is STILL $54 in savings. On just ONE range session. Do that 10 times and you've paid for over $500 of reloading gear.

How can you not save money at that rate? I'd have to shoot four or five times as much AND just keep on buying more and more reloading gizmos to burn up all the savings. So how can you not save some money reloading?

At least that is how it pencils out for me....

But the question becomes: would you have bought 6 boxes of store bought as opposed to reloading that many for that period of time? And are you really only shooting 2x as much? I'd peg my shooting reloads at somewhere closer to 10 or 12 times as much as if I were buying loaded ammo. Typically, when I set up my 650 to load, it isn't 50 rounds, it's more like 1,000. The exception to this is of course when trying out a new load, but when I find one that works, I load volumes. The lowest runs I do would number in the 300 to 500 range, and those are typically jacketed rounds. I shoot a lot of lead bullets, SWC type even in 9mm. When I was more active, I was running through 300+ 9mm a week, plus other calibers.

Then you also need to consider "surplus" ammo. I've seen 9mm, 45 acp and .223 for almost the same price as the components. It's pretty darn hard to save money over those.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

In a 45 min range session I would shoot about half a box of 38 specials, 12 357 mag, half a box of 45ACP'S, 12 45 Long Colts and 6 410's. Today I shot for about an hour and went threw about 50 22's, it's hard to tell exactly since I had to reload the wife's magazines for her Ruger SR22 from the box I was shooting from.

I was going to get a 22 revolver (I don't care for the wife's 317), but decided the bolt rifle is slower and cheaper.

I didn't get into shooting until last December when I bought my first gun (686-6) at age 58.

Since December: 686 $750, Governor $800, 317 $700, Charter Arms Chic Lady $450, Ruger SR22 Free, CZ 455 $430, Range membership $500.

I'm not sure I've ever seen it summed up better than this!

For some, being able to shoot more for the same amount of money might be their bottom line.

For me, that's only part of it. The other reasons: 1. Availability. Ammo draught? What's that? 2. Selection. What do I want to go shoot tomorrow? A .44 bear buster? Maybe a 200 gr. WC target load. 3. Accuracy. Not all my handloads are more accurate than factory ammo, but most of them are, and some by quite a bit. 4. Price. Yes, I might spend as much or more on components than I ever did factory ammo, but I'm shooting a lot more. Every round I load costs less than the factory equivalent. That's a savings no matter which way you look at it. 5. Relaxing hobby. I like reloading more than watching a movie.

YMMV, of course.

And we wouldn't mind seeing photos of your new rifle!

Tom,

I would have done so. I guess I'm just different than the majority. My amount of shooting is governed by the amount of time I have to shoot. That amounts to around an hour per session, twice a month. When I got into shooting again 13 years ago, it was primarily for the serious purpose of self-defense practice. I knew going in that regular practice was a must, but I only had so much time to do it. I determined that I would practice that amount of time in order to become reasonably proficient. I used whatever amount of ammo necessary during that time period.

I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to afford shooting factory ammo even for that limited amount of time, so I obtained the necessary tools and have used them ever since. Not only do I not shoot more, I actually shoot LESS, preferring to stop frequently to analyze mistakes/problems and ponder how to correct them. And, apparently contrary to the majority here, I don't buy any additional tools to increase the expense of loading. I have what I need, and I'm content with that.

Consequently, again apparently contrary to the majority here, I save, have saved, and will save, a great deal of money reloading.

That's my experience.

Regards,
Andy

"Honey, I'll save money shooting .22 rifles."

That's what I told my wife in 2009 when I brought home a $500 S&W M&P 15-22. The wife just rolled her eyes.

That day marked the beginning of my rimfire journey of frugality...

Here's a couple rimfire money-savers....

More than half my guns are .22's I also am surprised the OP didn't have any already. I like to take a big gun, and a ,22 understudy to the range.

Car too many people I have seen shooting have high dollar big guns they can barely afford to feed. Then they have el cheapo .22's and talk about how they don't enjoy shooting .22's. I tell them to spend some money on nice .22's so they will enjoy shooting them.

I can't imagine going to the trouble of going to the range and NOT shooting at least a couple of hundred rounds. 6 boxes of ammo isn't that much for a range session, so yes, I think it is a pretty reasonable example - at least for me.

Personally I can't imagine shooting 10 or 12 times as much. I just don't have that kind of time - even if I gave up reloading. But then I only reload a couple of hundred rounds at a time and shoot a few hundred rounds a month.

And don't forget to not count your time when calculating all the money you'll be saving.

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Scoundrel & Ne'er-Do-Well

Living about a mile from the range, I've gone there and shot as little as a mag or two, just checking out a load. That was in the past when they didn't charge if you had a state park sticker. Now days it's $4 each trip, so I do tend to shoot more, but there have still been days when my total out put was far under 100 rounds, like when testing various .22 brands for my Model 41.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

If you see it as work, or if it takes time away from paying work, then sure.

If you see it as part of the hobby (as most do) then that doesn't really apply.

You don't add a dollar-per-hour figure for the time you spend shooting to the "cost" of a trip to the range, do you? Travel time too? How about time spent at the LGS or Cabelas buying ammo? Or time spent online in gun forums?

Exactly. I live two minutes from the club. 365 days, 30 minutes before dawn until 30 minutes after dusk.

Shooting is much more enjoyable when you don't feel like you have to shoot all day to make it worth the trouble of going to the range.

Must be nice. The closest local indoor club is about 15-20 minutes from the house, but the dues and/or daily lane fees are too rich for my blood and they won't let you shoot bare lead.

The closest local outdoor range is about a half hour away, but they are only open 2pm - sunset. Only $5 to shoot though, which is nice.

A buddy has his own little range set up at his house, but it is a half hour away too, and kinda' primitive. Plus we can only shoot during the day on weekdays when his witch, ...er I mean WIFE, is at work...

A 22 .... man, some folks are slow on the uptake.
I'm sure you got a sweet deal on it. But that's because after the post sandyhook panic, 22 ammo was so profoundly impacted that the guns were effectively transformed into clubs.

My recommendation for the role described is a lever action in 357/38 special, and or 30-30. This along with some basic reloading gear can keep on truckin long after the 22s get lost under the dust.

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it just needs more voltage

The drought has been over for quite awhile if you want to buy online. Some of us weren't overly affected by it in the first place.

I have several .22s but around here is still next to impossible to find ammo.
Any .22lr that is around is so high priced that I can shoot my centerfire reloads for less cost.

"Nice" depends on your situation. Even though I only live about a mile from a range, "nice" to me would to be able to step out in my back yard and shoot up to 1,000 yards or more. For someone who lives more than an hour from a range, your situation would seem "nice". Everything is relative!

As I stated, the nearest range is very close, and I started going there in the early 60's with my dad. They have since up graded it, made it as "bullet escape proof" as they can, and it is manned every minute it's open. While that's "nice" in some respects, I liked it when the DNR was only there on the week end or just before hunting season. Back then, you only needed a Park sticker - around $21, and you could shoot at things other than plain bullseye targets. I loved to go out with my .22 target rifle and a cheap bag of plastic army men, set them up at 100 yards and go through several boxes of ammo. Today, it's $4 each visit, you can only use standard targets, and target checks are every 15 minutes. No silhouette targets of men or animals are allowed, let alone little plastic army men!

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Wife is very cool about my addiction... uh I mean hobby.

Now and then I'll drag the wife down to our competition or high power range. She's pretty tough... don't even flinch.